Connecticut Attorney General's Office

News Release

Blumenthal, St. Vincent's Announce Program to Help Teens Quit Smoking Monday, April 1, 1996

St. Vincent's Swim Across the Sound has joined Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's campaign against teen smoking by launching a major Teen Smoke Stoppers program in Fairfield County.

The Swim's participation was unveiled today at a press conference in Hartford. The program will offer free smoking cessation classes for teenagers throughout Eastern Fairfield County. The initiative will work with area school systems to make the Smoker Stoppers program available to teenagers. It will also include a strong prevention component to discourage teens from starting.

Blumenthal described the campaign as "a landmark in helping to combat the hugely funded promotion and marketing that the tobacco companies routinely and relentlessly aim at children."

"We must convince teens that smoking isn't cool and that it will kill," Blumenthal said. "The Swim's participation will help save lives and stem the misery and suffering caused by nicotine addiction. It is a model of cooperation and mutual support."

The Attorney General launched a campaign in 1993 to discourage the sale of cigarettes to minors by strengthening enforcement and penalties and to encourage restaurants to ban smoking completely to protect the health of their customers and employees. He welcomed the Swim's plans to offer support and a structured program to teenagers who want to quit smoking.

William J. Riordan, President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Vincent's, said the program was an outstanding example of public-private partnership.

"By working together we will create an important partnership of public and private sectors which will help teenagers break this habit or avoid it altogether. I believe this is a unique and valuable effort and we are very proud to be a part of it," Riordan said.

Swim Across the Sound Chairperson William Carroll of Stratford said the Swim's initiative with the Attorney General's office will help to address a serious health problem in Connecticut. "The program doesn't ask government to do everything for us. We'll work in partnership."

"This public private partnership through the Teen Smoke Stoppers should serve as a model for the entire state," Blumenthal said. "Its success should not only stop teen-age smoking, but also change the climate of opinion that implicitly encourages smoking. Tobacco is a gateway drug, leading to use of marijuana, cocaine and other dangerous substances."

Swim Across the Sound is a 17.5 mile non-stop race from Port Jefferson, Long Island to Captain's Cove in Bridgeport. Now in its 9th season, the Swim, slated for August 10, has raised over $1.5 million for cancer prevention and education programs. It is one of the largest athletic fund-raising events of its type in New England.

"Last year, St. Vincent's was able to guarantee access to mammography screening programs to all women in Eastern Fairfield County regardless of their ability to pay, something which very few communities in our country have accomplished," said Ronald J. Bianchi, President of the St. Vincent's Medical Center Foundation, which sponsors the event.

Bianchi said reaching out to teens will be another major initiative of the Swim because cigarette smoking is responsible for 80 percent of all lung cancers and 30 percent of all cancers in our country.

"Helping teens to stop smoking has enormous potential to prevent cancer in our state and is very consistent with Swim goals," Bianchi said.

James Connelly, Superintendent of Schools for the City of Bridgeport, represented the school systems at the press conference and said that he believed this effort should be a major help in dealing with the growing problem of teen smoking.

The Superintendent said studies show that cigarette smoking is not only a major risk factor for cancer, but it almost always is the entry point into drugs for the school age population. He noted that it's rare for a teen to smoke marijuana unless he or she has first smoked a cigarette.

St. Vincent's has had a successful adult smoking cessation program for many years. There are now curriculums that have been adapted for teenagers. While the program will be offered at no cost to teens, they will be asked to participate in the St. Vincent's Aquathon (held this year on August 2-3 at Fairfield University's Recplex) and to serve as leaders in helping other teens to quit smoking.

The eight-session program will be offered at area schools as well as St. Vincent's Medical Center. If the pilot program works, officials hope to extend it throughout Fairfield County. Classes will be conducted by the St. Vincent's Health & Lifestyle Center. Teens will also be recruited to lead a prevention campaign in their schools.

Swim Across the Sound has launched Fairfield County's largest low-cost and subsidized mammography screening program. It also provides prostate screenings for men, the "Canscreen" cancer risk assessment program, cancer support groups, skin cancer screenings and other education and prevention efforts.

For those who would like further information, call St. Vincent's Health & Lifestyle Center, 576-5500.